Overnight Markets: Apple weighs on Wall Street

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and Nasdaq declined on Monday after shares of Apple Inc. fell amid worries over demand for the company’s products and investors braced for earnings disappointments.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 19 points, or 0.14%, at 13,507. The S&P 500 was down one point, or 0.09%, at 1,471. The Nasdaq was down eight points, or 0.26%, at 3,118.

Tech heavyweight Apple lost 3.6% after reports the company has slashed for LCD screens and other parts for the iPhone 5 this quarter due to weak demand. Apple’s suppliers also fell. Cirrus Logic was off 9.4% and Qualcomm was down 1%.

Sprint Nextel Corp. dropped 3.9% after the wireless carrier was cut at JP Morgan Chase & Co.

On the contrary, Dell Inc's stock which surged 13% to about a five-month high after Bloomberg reported the No. 3 personal computer maker is in talks with private equity firms to go private.

Hewlett Packard Co. rose 4.9% as market researcher Gartner Inc. said it retook the spot as the top personal-computer maker from Lenovo Group Ltd.

Appliance and electronics retailer Hhgregg Inc slumped 5.7% after the company cut its same-store sales forecast for the full year.

Investors were also concerned as fourth-quarter earnings kick into high gear this week. Analyst estimates for the quarter have fallen sharply since October. S&P 500 earnings growth is now seen up just 1.9% from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed.

The companies which are due to unveil their earnings reports this week include, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Intel and General Electric.

In Asia, shares gained on Tuesday as the yen traded near its lowest level in more than two years against the dollar, boosting the earnings outlook for Japanese exporters.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2% to 132 as of 12:33 p.m. Tokyo time. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 1.3%, poised for its highest close since April 2010. China’s Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.3% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.1%. South Korea’s Kospi Index slipped 0.7%.